History Part I.

Electrical phenomena attracted the attention of European thinkers as early as the17th century. Beginning as a mathematically oriented science, the field has remained primarily in that form; mathematical predication often precedes laboratory demonstration. The most noteworthy pioneers include Wilhelm Gilbert and Georg Simon Ohm of Germany, Hans Christian Orsted of Denmark, Andre-Marie Ampere of France, Alessandro Volta of Italy, Joseph Henry of the United States, and Michael Faraday of England. Electrical engineering may be said to have emerged as a discipline in 1864 when the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell summarized the basic laws of electricity in mathematical form and predicted that radiation of electromagnetic energy would occur in a form that later became known as radio waves. In 1887 the German physicist Heinrich Hertz experimentally demonstrated the existence of radio waves.

Part II.

The first practical application of electricity was the telegraph, invented by Samuel F. B. Morse in 1837. The need for electrical engineers was not felt until some 40 years later, upon the invention of the telephone (1876) by Alexander Graham Bell and оf the incandescent lamp (1878) by Thomas A. Edison. These devices and Edison's first central generating plant in New York City (1882) created a large demand for men trained to work with electricity.

The discovery of the "Edison effect", a flow of current through the vacuum of one of his lamps, was the first observation of current in space. Hendrick Antoon Lorentz of the Netherlands predicted the electron theory of electrical charge in 1895, and in 1897 J. J. Thomson of England showed that the Edison effect current was indeed caused by negatively charged particles (electrons). This led to the work of Guglielmo Marconi of Italy, Lee De Forest of the United States, and many others, which laid the foundations of radio engineering. In 1930 the term "electronics" was introduced to embrace radio and the industrial applications of electron tubes. Since 1947, when the transistor was invented by John Bardeen, William H. Brattain, and William B. Shockey, electronics engineering has been dominated by the applications of such solid-state electronic devices as the transistor, the semiconductor diode, and the integrated circuit.

Words to be learnt:

Generating plant - электро-станция

flow - поток

oriented - ориентированный

predication - предсказание

precede - предшествовать

noteworthy - значительный

through – через, сквозь

observation - наблюдение

space – космос, пространство

charge - заряд

caused - вызванный

foundation - основание

embrace - охватывать

electron tube – электронная лампа

primarily - преимущественно

emerge - происходить

radiation - излучение

wave - волна

existence - существование

application – применение, заявление

incandescent lamp – лампа накаливания

Modern electronics

1. Many scientists believe at present that mankind has entered the era of a new technological revolution which was brought about by the advent of cybernetics, whose ideas and methods found their way into actually all branches of science and engineering, all the way from biology and medicine to economy and industrial management.

2. Electronics is one of the main sciences, which forms the technological basis for using these new methods. Electronics studies the problems connected with the application of instruments and devices_, the action of which is based on the utilization of various phenomena that result from the movement of electrons through vacuum, gases and solid bodies.

3. Electronics surround us everywhere. Television, tape-recording, radio-receiving - electronics is at the heart of them all. But that is only a small part of electronics and not the most important at that. Extremely complicated electron­ic systems control the work of huge plants, enterprises and power stations. Electronic appliances are indispensable for planning and controlling our national economy. Electronic computers are widely used in scientific research and industri­al designing. Huge radio-telescopes, equipped with sensitive instruments and powerful amplifiers enable man to gain an insight into the remotest corners of space, discover new and puzzling phenomena of nature.

4. Now mankind is in the second decade of the cosmic era. It was in 1957 that the first man-made satellite was launched in our country, and now man has already set his foot on the Moon, sends probes to distant planets and orbits the earth in space vehicles. All this could not have been done but for electronics.

5. Electronic computers calculate the trajectories of spaceships, help prepare, launch and monitor the rockets that carry the most complicated and sophisticated equipment. Radio-electronic systems ensure reliable communication with space probes at distances amounting to scores of millions of kilometers, relay telephotos of distant planets. Hundreds of electronic devices perform various tasks on board every satellite and spaceship. It may be said that in the near fu­ture electronics will surely make great strides and help the humanity gain new victories in science and engineering.

Words to be learnt:

puzzle - загадка

decade - десятилетие

satellite - спутник

probes - зонды

trajectories - траектории

launch – запускать, запуск

complicated - сложный

sophisticated - сложный

scores (pl.) - множество

on board – на борту

advent – приход, прибытие

actually – фактически, в сущности

utilization - использование

surround - окружать

appliance – прибор, устройство

indispensable – необходимый, обязательный

amplifier - усилитель

remote - удаленный